Envelop.



AL w. CLAPP.

ENVELOP.

APPLICATION FILED sEPT.29. 191s..

1,236,4@8 Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

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ARTHUR W. CLAIPP, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG'NOR TO FRANK E.,lV.[IX, OF MINNEAPOLIS,

MINNESOTA. K

EN VELOP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 141, 1917.

Application filed September 29, 1916. Serial No. 122,851.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WV. CLAPP, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelope, of which the following is a specification.v

My invention relates to envelops7 partickularly of the type used for carrying money or documents of great value, and has for its object to provide means whereby an envelop of the class specified may be sealed with wax or other similar substances in such a manner that all of the seams in the envelop will be covered with a minimum number of seals. In carrying out my invention I employ an envelop in which permanentlysealed narrow end flaps are provided which are covered by a gummed sealing iiap eX- tending down over the major portion thereof on the rear of the envelop. On each of the edges of the sealing flap of such an envelop A or similar envelop I provide an incision which when the envelop is sealed extends completely across the end flap and over a portion of the body of the envelop. After le envelop has been closed by the gummed sealing flap the portion of the envelop at said incision may be covered with sealing wax, which forms a permanent seal uniting the end flap, the sealing flap and the body of the envelop at a single spot.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, illustrating the application of my invention in one form,

Figure 1 is a view of the back of my improved envelop with the flap opened show- ,ing the location of the incisions in the sealing flap. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the .liap closed and the envelop sealed with wax :on one side. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

My invention is most advantageously applied to the type of envelop shown in the drawings. The whole envelop is made of a single piece of material having a body 10 the sides of which are formed integral at the lower edge and are securely fastened at the lateral edges by narrow flaps 11 and 12 bent over from the front side of the envelop and permanently gummed in place upon the rear side. A sealing Hap 13 is formed with the front side of body 10 having protruding ears 14 and 15 adapted to cover the greater portion of the flaps 1l and 12 when the envelop is sealed, the intermediate portion being cut away as desired. A portion of both of the sides of the body 10 at 16 is preferably folded over with the flap 13 when the envelop is sealed. The gum is applied to iiap 13 as indicated in Fig. 1 and may lap over the member 16 if desired.

My invention consists in forming incisions in the'outer edges of ears 14 and l5 at 17, which are preferably V-shaped as shown in Fig. 1. These cuts or incisions when the envelop flap is gummed in place as indicated in Fig. 2 extend completely across the end flaps 11 and 12 and over the body 10 at 18. At each of these cut-away portions of the sealing flaps is placed a wax seal 19 which completely covers the incision 17. It will hence be perceptible from Figs. 2 and 3 that seal 19 comes in contact with flap 13, body 10 and the corresponding flap 11 or 12. In this manner the union of the three parts of the envelop is sealed at one spot so that it would be impossible to tamper with the contents of the envelop without breaking the seal. If desired an additional seal may be applied at 2O at the ends of the flap ears 14 and l5, which it will be noted would also secure the three portions of the envelop together.

Although my invention has been shown as .applied to a specific form of envelop, it will become evident that the same may be employed with any form in which the sealing flap covers the permanently-gummed fla s of the envelop, the proper formation of tie sealing iiap exposing all three parts of the envelop at individual spots or localities to permit the same to be bound together'.

The advantages of my invention are manifest. The usual method of sealing envelops which consists in placing a single seal at the center of the envelop where the sealing iap is gummed to the body is found to be quite unsafe, as the end flaps can be moistened and opened, the contents of the envelop tampered with and the end iiap gummed in place again without affecting the wax seal. With my invention this becomes impossible as the sealing iiap, an end flap and the body of the envelop are all firmly united together by a Single seal so that it becomes necessary to break the seal in order to open any of the gummed joints.

I claim: y 4

1. An envelop comprising a body and a sealing flap carried thereby and adapted to overlie one wall of the body, said iap having a Jfree corner disposed at an exposed portion of said wall for the application of an overlying seal, and the end portion of said flap being provided with a notch that is disposed between the corner and fold and extending inwardly from the edge of said flap to expose a portion of the body for the application of a seal thereto and to the adjacent end portion of the flap between its said corner and the fold.

2. An envelop comprising a body provided with front and rear walls and a narrow end flap carried by one of the walls and overlying and secured to the other wall,

forming an end seain, and a sealing flap connected to the body and adapted to be secured over said latter wall and cover the said end seam, said sealing flap having a notch in its end margin spaced from its free side edge and from its connection with the body, said notch extending across the narrow end flap and exposing the said seam and a portion of the body wall to permit the application of a seal that will engage and overlie the end of the sealing flap between its side margins and also engage and overlie the portions of the end flap and body wall exposed by said notch.

In testimony whereof I afx Iny signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR W. CLAPP.v

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the lCommissioner of Patents., Washington. D. G. 

